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CRIM333 Lecture 9 Ivan Milat Details of the case  

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Between December 1989 and April 1992, seven backpackers disappeared shortly after hitchhiking south on the Hume Highway. They were Deborah Everist (19) and James Gibson (19) from Victoria, Simone Schmidl (21), Anja Habschied (20) and Gabor Neugebauer (21) from Germany, and Joanne Walters (22) from Wales and Caroline Clarke (21) an Englishwoman. Their bodies were discovered between September 1992 and November 1993 in the Belanglo State Forest, south of Berrima in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. According to Justice Gleeson all the victims were “travelling in circumstances where they were unlikely to have been missed for some time after they were killed. Each set out along the Hume highway in order to hitchhike south. All of the bodies were covered with forest debris, sticks and large tree branches and were in an advanced state of decomposition when found” (R V Milat [2014] NSWSC 434). Justice Gleeson also noted that the forensic evidence suggested that each victim had been attacked savagely and with more force than necessary to cause death for the apparent reason 'psychological gratification'. Additionally, all but one of the victims appeared to have been the subject of sexual interference, either before or after death. The first bodies to be discovered were Joanne Walters and Caroline Clark in September 1992. Walters had been gagged, bound and stabbed 14 times in her neck and back. She was found with no underpants under her jeans and her t-shirt and bra were found pulled up, exposing her breasts. Caroline Clarke had also been gagged and bound and postmortem examination revealed she had been stabbed in the back once and shot in the head at close range 10 times. One year later in October 1993, human remains were found and later identified as Deborah Everist and James Gibson (both missing since 30 Dec 1989). Found four years later. Everist suffered six blunt force and penetrating traumas to her head, a fractured jaw, and cuts consistent with stab wounds. Gibson’s skeletal remains also indicated he had been stabbed numerous times. After the discovery of these bodies, police deduced there was likely a serial killer at large and created Task Force Air. As a result of a large-scale search as part of the new taskforce, the skeletal remains of Simone Schmidl, Anja Habschied and Gabor Neugebauer were found in early November 1993. Simone Schmidl was found gagged with her bra, undershirt and vest rolled up towards her neck and shoulders. She had been stabbed in her spine and ribs multiple times, likely causing paralysis. Anja had been decapitated (her head was never found), stabbed and likely sexually abused. Gabor was gagged, likely strangulated and shot six times to the head (Howard 2014: 1-5).

One backpacker, Paul Onions from the United Kingdom, escaped and reported to the police. However, this was before the police had located the bodies of the other victims.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS 30 December 1989 - Deborah Everist and James Gibson last seen. 31 December 1989 - James Gibson's camera found at Galston Gorge, near Hornsby. 15 January 1990 - Deborah Everist and James Gibson reported missing. 25 January 1990 - Paul Onions flees from abductor in Hume Highway, near Bowral (Onions reports to Bowral police). 13 March 1990 - James Gibson's backpack found at Galston Gorge.

1 November 1993 - Remains of Simone Schmidl discovered at Belanglo State Forest, near Bowral. 4 November 1993 - Remains of Gabor Neugebauer and Anja Abschied discovered at Belanglo State Forest, near Bowral. 26 February 1994 - Ivan Milat placed under police surveillance. 5 May 1994 - Paul Onions identified Ivan Milat as his abductor. 22 May 1994 - Police raid Milat family properties and Ivan Milat arrested.

20 January 1991 - Simone Schmidl last seen. 25 January 1991 - Simone Schmidl reported missing. 26 December 1991 - Gabor Neugebauer and Anja Abschied last seen. 30 January 1992 - Gabor Neugebauer and Anja Abschied reported missing. 18 April 1992 - Joanne Walters and Caroline Clarke last seen.

24 October 1994 - Ivan Milat's committal - on seven charges of murder, attempted abduction and related charges - begins. 11 March 1996 - Trial of Ivan Milat begins. 27 July 1996 - Ivan Milat convicted and sentences to seven life sentences for murder and six years for 'detention for advantage'. 29 August 2010 - Remains of 'Angel' found at Belanglo State Forest, near Bowral.

29 May 1992 - Joanne Walters reported missing. Early June 1992 - Caroline Clarke reported missing via Interpol.

20 November 2010 - Matthew Milat and Cohen Klein murder David Auchterlonie at Belanglo State Forest, near Bowral.

19 September 1992 - Body of Joanne Walters discovered at Belanglo State Forest, near Bowral.

8 June 2012 - Matthew sentenced to 43 years and Klein sentenced to 32 years for murder.

20 September 1992 - Body of Caroline Clarke discovered at Belanglo State Forest, near Bowral. 5 October 1993 - Remains of Deborah Everist and James Gibson discovered at Belanglo State Forest, near Bowral. 6 October 1993 - Clive Small appointed to head investigation into the Belanglo murders. 18 October 1993 - Alex Milat interviewed.

Investigation and trial

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Senior Crown Prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, is quoted in Clive Small's 'Milat: Inside Australia's biggest manhunt' book as stating: "Amazing police work. Amazingly painstaking" in reference to the work of Task Force Air. Small and Gilling (2014) have also claimed that the Milat case "was the biggest and most complex manhunt in Australian history". Paul Onions, a UK backpacker, immediately reported his abduction by Ivan Milat to the police and gave them a description of Milat. However, as noted on the previous page, this was before any of the bodies of the victims had been found. As such the police treated the report as an offence involving an assault with a firearm. In November 1993 the NSW Government offered its highest ever reward of $500,000 for information leading to the conviction of the killer. When there was international publicity about the murder Paul Onions contacted the police again (despite being back in the UK). Task Force Air then contacted the Bowral Police who were able to share their file of the report. . On the 5 May 1994 Onions was shown a video containing 13 individuals still photographs of individuals, of which he selected Ivan Milat as the person who had detained him (Howard 2014). Onion's physical description of Milat provided strong evidence for the police; as did Milat's continued possession of Mr Onion's rucksack which he left with Milat when he escaped. According to Howard (2014: 9), Onions' identification of Ivan Milat was the major breakthrough that enabled Task Force Air to "progress the investigation by leaps and bounds". Police visited Alex Milat on the 21 May 1994 in QLD because Alex had previously made a report to the police that he had seen two vehicles with a number of male passengers being driven on Belanglo Road with a gagged female in each car (Howard 2014: 10). On the 22nd May 1994 police units searched Ivan Milat's home at Eagle Vale, his brother Walter Milat's home at Hilltop; his brother Richard Milat's home at Hilltop; his mother's home at Guildford and an acreage at Wombeyan Caves known to be frequented by the family for shooting and camping trips (Howard 2014: 11). The police found property linking Milat directly to the murders at his house; his mother’s house (Milat had been living at his mother's house during the time of the murders); and at the house of both of his brothers. At these three locations the police found articles of clothing and equipment, which were belonged to the deceased backpackers. An assortment of weaponry that was connected with the murders was also found at these properties. The police also located a bloodstained cord in Milat's possession which was linked via DNA to the blood of one of the victims. Milat was arrested in May 1994. One of the criticisms against the police during the investigation was their lack of immediate response to the disappearance of some of the victims. “For example, although the mothers of Everist and Gibson reported their children missing to the police, these cases were filed as missing person cases and were not investigated immediately.” Whittaker and Kennedy (1998: 189), “It was not a serious case in the eyes of the police – two 19year-olds off on a bit of a skylark. If they investigated every such case, they’d be doing nothing else, especially in mid-summer”. However, it is important to understand that 35 000 people are reported missing in Australia each year and most return home within a few weeks (Scerra 2011: 92).

The reporting by them of their movements had been quite intermittent, so you really had very little to go on ... [...] the victims were backpackers which meant they had no close connections in the immediate Sydney area. (cited in Scerra 2011: 92). The trial  Ivan Milat was tried in the Supreme Court before Justice Hunt and a jury from 25 March to 27 July 1996  Discrepancies between the dates of the trial depending on the source you look at. For example, in the Lecture you will see that The Canberra Times reported that the trial started in the 26th March [see Slide 4] and in the previous chapter Clive Small reports that the trial began on the 11th March. Similarly, there are various dates given for the end of the trial with the 27th July given by some sources and the 26th by other sources.  On 27 July 1996 (or 26th July perhaps) Milat was found guilty of seven murders and sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences and a further 18 years without parole. For the offence of detaining for advantage he was sentenced to imprisonment for six years.  Paul Onions returned from the UK in 1994 and 1996 for the trial of Milat and was an important Crown witness (R V Milat [2014] NSWSC 434).  Throughout the trial the Crown did not try to establish that Milat had acted alone in committing the murders. Indeed, the Crown was open about a number of problems with the idea that only one person committed the crimes: “some of the victims were travelling in pairs, and having regard to the way in which they appeared to have been bound or otherwise restrained, it was possible that more than one person had been involved in the murders.”  An expert forensic biologist was brought into trial to provide testimony about the DNA found in the hairs located in Joanne Walter's hand. The expert provided testimony that the hairs could be excluded as belonging to any member of the Milat family.  Ivan Milat also took the stand during the trial, and the essential reading for this week provides the background to the case, but the full book examines the 'cross-examination' of Milat; and author Howard (2014: x1) states: "After a trial lasting nearly three months, the accused took the witness stand and gave his account of events, in which he denied any involvement in these horrific crimes. Then an inspired, careful and methodical cross-examination by a highly skilled prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi QC, drawing on the mass of incriminating evidence assembled by one of the largest police task forces ever established in Australia, emphatically demonstrated the over-whelming strength of the Crown's case to the extent that the defense case unraveled and was exposed for the sham it was".  Ivan Milat made four applications for review of his conviction.  The first application to the Court of Criminal Appeal was dismissed on 27 October 2005 by Justice Barr. This application related to the identification evidence adduced at trial regarding the applicant's motor vehicle.  The second application was also refused on 14 December 2006 by Justice McCellan in the NSW Supreme Court. This also related to Mr Onions and Milat's motor vehicle identification.  On 17 July 2008 Milat's third application was also refused by Justice McCellan in the NSW Supreme Court. Milat had appealed his conviction on the basis that the Crown had been unable to provide beyond reasonable doubt that he was the one responsible for the crimes; and that rather it was one of his family members who was responsible.  The fourth application, on the 15 May 2010, revolved around the argument that the jury should have "unease over the reliability of the Crown's primary evidence" (R V Milat [2014] NSWSC 434). This argument again centered on the fact that the "Crown had not sought to prove that only one person, acting alone, had committed all seven murders" (R V Milat [2014] NSWSC 434). Milat further argued that the DNA evidence (in relation to the hairs found in Joanne 

Walter's hand) did not directly implicate him and "that because the vaginal swabs taken from Ms Clarke and Ms Walters had multiple contaminations, the only finding available to the jury was that the DNA evidence did not implicate Mr Milat" (R V Milat [2014] NSWSC 434). Justice McClellan refused this application on 11 November 2010 determining that these issues had been adequately dealt with during the original trials and subsequent appeals.

Childhood suffering

Childhood abuse Animal cruelty

Need for power Personality disorders

Criminal history

Serial killer characteristics Ivan was brought up in a violent home. Ivan’s father drank heavily and had explosive outburst which manifested in verbal and physical abuse towards himself, his mother, and his 13 siblings. His mother was also fairly violent towards the children. Boris, Ivan’s older brother recalls on one occasion their mother hitting him with a knife and on another occasion breaking his arm after being hit by a tomato stake. Additionally, the death of Ivan’s younger sister Margaret at the age of 16 as a result of a fatal car accident was also said to have a great impact on him (Whittaker and Kennedy 1998). See above. Milat often killed and tortured animals (Dillon 2015). Killing small animals such as birds was common among the Milat children. As an adult, Milat often boasted about killing animals whose carcasses were often tied to his truck. Whittaker and Kennedy (1998) write about an incident in which Ivan enjoyed killing a snake. "...[Ivan] was not content to just flatten its head, he chopped it up, all the while with a great smile on his face". Unknown. However, Milat took 'souvenirs', such as camping equipment and items of clothing from his victims. According to journalistic novel writer, Shears (1996), Milat gave the clothes to his partner and liked to see her wearing them. Unknown. However, Shears (1996) notes that Milat was "regarded as a reliable and conscientious employee" (cited in Kocsis and Irwin 1998: 202). This was also reported in the media at the time of the trial with two of his former employees telling the court that he was a 'model employee' and 'the best worker' they had (The Canberra Times 1994: 3). In contrast, Detective Inspector Lehmann has been quoted as stating the following about Milat (and 2 other serial killers): “Everyone knows about Ivan Milat and his crimes but the other three are equally as evil. They are in that handful of elite psychopaths who seem to have a compulsion to kill’’ (cited in Morris 2015). Ivan was regularly in trouble with the police as a child and adolescent for car thefts, breaking and entering and armed robbery. Additionally, in 1971, Milat was charged (though later acquitted) of the rape of two female hitchhikers (Small 2014) Media Response  

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The case of Ivan Milat received massive media coverage during the time, and it has had an interesting role to play in several different aspects of the case. Second, the media also jeopardized the case in one instance. In 1994, Who Weekly published a photo of Ivan Milat at karaoke. At the time, Milat had been charged, and identification was a crucial part of their case. The NSW Supreme Court found Who Weekly in contempt and held that the photograph ran the risk of “polluting the recollection of witnesses” and ran the risk of perverting the cause of justice (Pearson 2014). The media portrayed Ivan Milat in a very particular way. They portrayed him as being evil and as clearly being guilty.

Panic or intrigue? At the time, panic flooded Australia. Tourist numbers were down, and the media identified the increasing number of attacks and murders (Milat’s killings included) as the reason (Sutton 1996: 4).  The police also reacted to the severity of the case by forming the Unsolved Homicide Squad which began a review of long-term missing persons files back to 1970 (Fife-Yeomans 2014). Today however, there seems to be great intrigue regarding Milat and his crime. In 2015, channel Seven’s premier Catching Milat, attracted 1.68 million views (Seven West Media 2015). Goulburn Ghost Tours began conducting “an extreme terror tour” of the Belanglo State Forest for $150 per person. Labeled as “horrendous” by Mike Baird, the tours were quickly cancelled due to the public outcry. In 2019 the intrigue surrounding Ivan Milat continued when headlines across Australia announced that Ivan Milat was diagnosed with terminal esophageal cancer and questions arose surrounding whether he would or would not confess. Like most media coverage, the information is conflicting, with some sources saying that Milat had confessed to his mother, while others report that Milat is maintaining his innocence. For example: 

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Sutton, C 2019. "Belanglo backpacker murders: Ivan Milat confessed to his mother before her death", news.com.au AND Barlass, T & Cormack, L 2019. "Milat's deathbed declaration of innocence", The Sydney Morning Herald, August 25th. 

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It may seem unlikely, but Ivan Milat and his murders are now also the subject of a macabre joke: "Ivan Milat is walking through the forest with a backpacker. The backpacker says to him ‘‘It’s getting dark and scary in here’’. Milat replies ‘‘You’re scared? I’m the one who’s got to walk back by myself.’’" (cited in Kelen 2006: 562). The 2005 Australian horror film Wolf Creek was based on the ‘actual events’ of "the Ivan Milat hitchhiker murders from the early 1990s; and secondly, the violent abduction and murder of British tourist Peter Falconio in the Northern Territory in 1996" Blackwood (2007: 490) writes that there are similarities between the real-life cases and the film, in particular: "...one of the most shocking torture scenes in the film—when Mick makes Liz into a ‘head on a stick’ by cutting into her spinal cord—is a reference to one of the more sensational revelations of the Milat trial (reportedly one of his favored killing techniques)." In August 2010 national newspapers began to have headlines including ‘Grisly find reopens wounds of Milat’s killing field at Belanglo State Forest’ after more remains were found in Belanglo State Forest (Hess and Waller 2012: 118). In November 2010 the nephew of Ivan malt, Matthew Milat, was charged with the murder of 17-year-old David Auchterlonie. Although another boy, Cohen Klein was also responsible for this murder, the media were very quick to make the family connection....